Portsmouth reached the FA Cup final but needed an advance of television money to save them from going out of business. Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Portsmouth's Premier League rivals pushed for the club to be liquidated in mid-season in order to share the television money they were due, the high court heard yesterday.

Portsmouth are in court to defend themselves against the taxman's challenge to the company voluntary arrangement proposed by the administrator, Andrew Andronikou. And shortly after beginning his evidence Richard Sheldon, Portsmouth's counsel in yesterday's action, claimed: "The other [Premier League] clubs wanted to let Portsmouth go to the wall and to divide the television monies amongst themselves."

The FA Cup finalists were rescued from bankruptcy only when the Premier League advanced millions of pounds to Pompey so they could meet otherwise unaffordable short-term liabilities. And Sheldon said it was only an intervention from the League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, that prevented Portsmouth from going bust. In the event, all clubs received a payment of approximately £2m from the League's central pot, equal to the sum advanced to Pompey in February.

A further sum is believed to have been paid up front to Pompey once their relegation was confirmed. Sheldon's extraordinary allegation underlines the fact that the cut-throat nature of competition between Premier League clubs extends beyond the pitch and into the boardrooms. But all clubs are united in their opposition to the taxman's central argument in court yesterday, which is that the football-creditors rule is unjust and should be abolished. Under the football-creditors rule, all players and clubs receive 100p in the pound on any debt they are owed, whereas ordinary creditors receive a fraction of their dues.

Football's justification for the rule is that without it their competitions would be unbalanced, since otherwise-solvent clubs could be forced to the wall due to another's financial collapse, potentially causing havoc to fixture lists throughout the pyramid. Greg Mitchell, counsel for HMRC, set out the taxman's challenge to the proposed CVA, under which the taxman would lose 80% of what it is owed by the relegated club.

When asked by Mr Justice Mann what alternative HMRC would propose, Mitchell responded that it would not include differential treatment of football creditors and ordinary creditors.